Damaskus was spared the destruction that Homs or Aleppo suffered. The Syrian Army managed with a lot of help from Russia to keep ISIS ante portas. The outskirts of Damaskus, like Ghouta, are a pile of rubble. In 2019 nothing in the city of Damascus hinted that years of war had devastated the country. A conflict that made 5 million Syrians flee their homeland. I was mesmerized by literally everthing I came across in this city: the bazaar, Umayyad Mosque, the Christian quarter, packed with churches of every possible Christian denomination, small restaurants and an occassional bar. But above all: it was the people who of did not budge. They just continue a life, as normal as it could possible be, in the midst of power cuts, sanctions that lack of everything.
Damascus – Bab Sharqi Gate
Damascus – Umayyad Mosque
While driving the relatively short distance from the Lebanese border into Damascus I saw not a single sign of destruction. Entering Damascus we passed by large apartment buildings, well maintained and also the city itself was untouched. When we left Damascus a few days later, heading north to Aleppo, a completely different picture. I saw for the first time the kind of destruction that filled our news for years and that made most of us believe that all of Syria looked like that. The northeastern suburb of Damascus Joubar was no more, 95% of it desstroyed. Driving through, it seems not a single building seemed intact. If the building was not destroyed it was gutted to its very core, every door, windowframe gone, only the bare building. It was actually this gutting of buildings that made the destruction look even more horrifying.
Joubar – 2-3km outside Damascus, once home of 300.000 people
National Museum of Iraq
We were so excited and eager to explore Damascus that we did not want to wait for our guide and ran off to the nearest place of interest: the National Museum, it had only opened days ago. Only parts of it were accessible, but what we saw was breathtaking.
National Museum, Damascus, 2019 – it had only opened a couple fo weeks ago
National Museum, Damascus, 2019
National Museum, Damascus, 2019
The gardens of the National Museum are full of artifacts, the most precious one is the Allat Lion. It was adorned the Alla Temple in Palmyra, while the world helplessly had to watch the barbaric destruction of Syria’s cultural heritage by ISIS. After the liberation of Palmyra, what was left of the Allat Lion, was brought to Damascus and put together with the help of Polish archeologists. Now it sits in the garden of the reopened National Museum. I was lucky to meet one of the persons who was involved in the rescue and renovation. I must admit it was an extremely touching moment to see goodness prevails over destruction. Even from very close the Allat Lion looks unscathed,
National Museum, Damascus, 2019 – Allat Lion from Palmyra, destored
I visited Palmyra in 2023 and was relieved to see that most of the archeological sights remained intact, the ancient theater had been partly destroyed after ISIS took over Palmrya the second time. The worst demage suffered the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph that framed the approach to the city and the nearly 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshamin.
Roman Theater in Palmyra 2023 – parts were destroyed after 2nd occupation by ISIS
ISIS blew up the 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshamin in Palmyra
Next to National Museum is Suleyman Mosque, built under Ottoman rulers in 17th centuries.
Bazaar of Damascus
Old Damascus captivated me immediately, basically it is one big bazar with narrow streets running off in each direction. It was full of life, people shopping spices, perfumes, jewelry and beautiful clothes, the merchandise mainly Syrian, the lack of everything brought by the war and above all by the sanctions was quite visible.
Old Damascus – bazar
Old Damascus – bazar
Old Damascus – bazar
Shopping surrounded by ancient Roman architecture
Old Damascus – bazar
Old Damascus – bazar
Old Damascus – bazar
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
The Umayyad Mosque is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world.I visited it several times, since the mood and vibes change throughout the day. My favorite time was at night, when few people were around. Women need to pick up a cloak from a side entrance before entering and wear this while inside, like I did in this photo.
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Heidi wearing cloak
Nightlife in Damascus 2019
One evening we came across in a restaurant/ café packed with people. The air was filled with the smoke of shisha pipes. Young boys were racing in between the tables providing more charcoal, serving tea…. Even a band was playing and we got up to dance a bit.
Nightlife Damascus
Shisha place
That evening I also met the parents of young man who had fled to Austria. He had given me a present for his parents, all their four children had fled the country, all to different ones an I could tell how sad and lonely they had become, not being even able to visit them.
Parents of young man who had fled to Austria- all their kids had left the country
Accommodation in Damascus – from to
Our hotel was outside of the old city, a simple place by choice. In spring 2019, more expensive hotels were filled with Chinese businesspeople. The small boutique hotel inside the old quarters, were completely deserted, not one single guest. One day I stepped inside the Agenor Hotel, a five star boutique hotel and asked if I could see the rooms. I was so impressed by the young daughter of the owner who showed us around the exquisitely furnished rooms. It was so sad to see such beauty and nobody there to enjoy it. The young lady never complained and fretted about the misery this war had brought upon her family business. I was so impressed by the dignity and calm this young women showed.
Agenor 5* Boutique Hotel
Agenor 5* Boutique Hotel
For the last night in Damascus, Kathy and I moved into a small hotel inside the city walls, a typical building for Damascus with a courtyard and rooms arranged around it. It was beautiful, but so cold. We asked for a tiny little electric heater and put it between us in our double bed.
When I returned in 2023, more tourists were around and the beautiful boutique hotels inside the city wall were slowly coming to life, one even posing a pool inside old Damascus, and I was wondering if this is really what Damascus needed.
Hotel inside Old Damascus, 2023
Boutique Hotel inside the city wall
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